Register-operating car-step.



f I i F. LANGHARST.

REGISTER OPERATING UAR STEP.

Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.-

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 2; 1909.

F. LANGHARST.

REGISTER OPERATING GAR STEP.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. 1.909.

' Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Maw mo W cat1on..

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mechanism being such that w ferred form of the invention has lon itudindl section tion on line A connected by guide strips v8 and {4, disp and State of Pennsylvania; haveinvented the weight of a person entericonstruction and which can be readily elevation of car steps .1 improvements, the adjacent operating mech- UNITED PAT F CE gmmmorm m 'oA'Ia-srnr.

To allwhomitmay'concemg i m Be it known. that I, FREDERICK Lansl-IA'RS'I, a'citizen' of; the United States resid ing at, Evans (lityr'finthe countyof-Butlei" new and useful Re ister-Operating {Oar- Step, of which the.

allowing is a specifi- This invention relates to ear steps of that type designed to operate registers for indi cars. The object of the invention steps of this character which crate when a person is enterin" .is tdprbvide will. only 08-: the car, t e.

leaves the car by' the samesteps the -A still further object istoiprovidemechanism" of this type which wi l -n0toperat; a register unless more thanonestep receives mbe Anot er, object is tq provi e. mechanism of this type which is simple and. durable in plied'to ordinary forms of cars. I I W'ith these and other objects in view the invention consists of .certainnovel details of'construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.- I, In the accompanying drawings the preeen shown;

In said drawingsz Figure -1 is a front embodying the present anism beinv also shown. Fig. 2 1s a vertical through the lower step .an the adjoinin mechanism, the u per step being shown in Front/elevation and with its protecting apron removed. Fig. v3 is a see Fig. 1., Fig. 4 is a section on line C-; Fig. -l, a portionof the register being shown.- partly in elevation and part1 in section, of a portion ofthe register an showing the actuating dog. Fig. 61s a section through a portion of the register and showing the retaining pawl in e 'evation. 7

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1, 1 designate han rs depending from .t car structure-.2, saitfliangers booing in stepped relation and eaohbeing rovided Speciii catim 'of Letterslfatent. Application 'fi'ia my 2,; Seria1 number of per sons-entering the n-fa PQISOllt c d-E ing mechanism will not'be actuated. l

. above projections 17 and "supported at its endsin suitable br'ackets20 'and'has an. upwardly 7 p which is pivotally connected to a pitman ,22,

"one or more projections the located within the eye with a central 5, nu'

' a ovethe strips 3lgmd cvahle. treads '7 and v8"respactively),"leach'' 'of;t hese'treads being provided near its oorn'ers, with depending stems 19, mavenmounted within the openin 6f injt'he strips f 3Ftherebelow; Springs 1 --extend around these stems and bear attheir-ends against" the treads andthe strips 3Irespe t1ve1y. e5

Extendin downwardly rom-the -middlei portion of t e tread 8 is astem 11, provided at, its lower end with a head 12havin-g its side faces converging downwardly toward each OtlIGIJtO fOI'IIL an edge 13.. .Another stem 70v 14 projects downwardly from the middle; portion of the tread (and through the openg Inga) in'thestrip 3 thereunder, this-stemalso terminating in a head 15. the side faces of which converge downwardly to form-an edge 16. Thetwo edges 13 and 16' are arranged out of alinement and are supported normally 18 ex'tendin upwardly from a rock-bar 19. This rock; ar is extending arm 21 extending loosely through one ofthe hangers :1, 'A coiled spring 23 is mounted 011" the Eitinan and bears at one end against the 1 anger 1, while its other end bears against 24 on "tli'e pitman, this spring thus serving to hold the pitman normally in a redetermined p0sition. The side faces 0 projections 18 converge upwardly to form edges which are normally close to and under-the edges of the heads 12 and'1'5. 1 p j The pitman 22 is pivotally connected to anarm 25 having an eye 26 at one end and o m'ng in'which is substantially semi- (ill'clll i as'shown at 27. Thiseye is mounted or more hangers 29, that portion of th'eshaft 26 being provided with a flat face as shown at 80. It will be apparent therefore that the arm 25 has/a limited swinging movement upon the shaft 28, but that when the fiat faces "of the shaft 28 and the'eye 26 come into contact the said shaft willbe caused to move with .the arm 25. Another armB]: extends'fromlthe 'shaftsfifi, and is normally substantiall horizontal, the free end of the armnormally resti on upon a rock-shaft 28 -.journaled within one Fig. -5 is a view,"""

aplate .34 wag rs sus nded from, r

Patented Feb... 15, 191p.

structure 2 by means of screw-threaded hangers 33. A red is pivotally connected to the arm 81 and a spring 35 extends around that portion of the rod immediately above the plate 32 and bears at one end against the arm 31 while its other end bears against a plate 36, which is loosely mounted on the rod 34. and which is slidable on the hangers 33, there being nuts 37 engaging saidhangers and above the plate 36 whereby the said plate can be shifted for the purpose of increasing or diminishing the tension of the spring The rod 34 extends upwardly into the car structure 2, and constitutes means for transmitting motion from the depressible step to a register located at any suitable point within the car. By referring to Figs. 4, and 6, it will be seen that the register includes a casing 38 having a disk 39 mounted for rotation therein, there being ratchet teeth 40 upon one face of the disk and designed to be successively engaged by a spring-pressed dog 41 carried by the rod 34-. A. spring-pressed pawl 42 is mounted within the casing and back of the disk 39, and is designed to engage the teeth 40 so as to prevent return movement of the disk 39. The front face of the disk 39'is provided adjacent its periphery with numerals arranged in regular order and designed to be suocessively exposed through an opening 43 formed in the front of the casing. These numerals may range from 0 to 50 or from 0 to 100, and suitable mechanism of the usual or any preferred form may be utilized for transmitting motion from this disk to a second disk 44 on which hundreds may be indicated. Additional means of the usual or any preferred type may be provided for transmitting motion from disk 44 to' a third disk 45 on which thousands are indicated.

It is of course to be understood that each complete rotation of disk 39 is to produce a fraction of a complete rotation of disk 44, and that each complete rotation of disk 44 will produce slight movement of the disk 45. inasmuch as this mechanism is of an ordinary construction it is not deemed necessary to illustrate and describe the same in detail.

it is to be understood that the springs hold the treads of the steps normally elevated to their greatest extent, and with the lower edges of the heads and 12 above and out of contact.-with the u er edges of the projections 15 and 17. bpring 23 also holds the arm normally pressed-to one side, as indicated in full lines in Fig. 2, and the spring exerts a constant downward pressure upon the arm 31 and rod 34. hen a person entering the car places his weight upon the lower tread 7 said tread is de pressed, and inasmuch as the edge 16 is arged at one side of the edge on the promon 18, one of the beveled faces of the head 15 will operate to swing the projection '18 laterally so as to bring the edge of the .of said head and projection thus cooperate to complete the rocking mo'vement of the bar 19. Arm 27 will thus be further shifted in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, this movement being sufiicient to push the rod 34 upwardly such a distance as to cause the dog 41 to turn the disk 39 one tooth and to bring one of the characters on said disk into view through the opening 43 in the case 38. As soon as the we ght of the person is removed from the upper tread 8 the various springs of the mechanism will return all of the parts except the disk 89, to their initial positions. I

Should a person desire to leave the car by the same steps, his weight is first applied to the upper tread 8, but inasmuch as the upper edge of the projection 17 .is normally at the wrong side of the edge 13 of the head 12, it will be apparent that the downward movement of the said head 12 will tend to shift the pitman 22 so as to swing arm 25 in a direction the reverse of that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2. Obviously therefore the register mechanism will not be operated.

As shown in Fig. 1, a supplemental stationary step 46 may be mounted on oneof the hangers 1 so as to permit" the conductor to enter or leave the car without operating the mechanism. Moreover, it is preferable to provide each of the treads 7 and 8 with a movable riser or apron 47, designed to close the spaces below and in front of the treads. It will be seen that mechanism such as herein described will accurately register the number of persons entering a car, andthe same will be found especially advantageous, because the same steps can be used both for ingress and egress, although the register mechanism will only be actuated by.. persons entering the car. lvloreovcr, the said mechanism will not be operated unless a person places his weight successively upon both steps of the car, and there is therefore no danger of the register being operated by persons standing upon the step.

Although the operating mechanism has been shown dependent upon the successive pressure of two steps, it is to be understood that if preferred more than two steps may be utilized for this purpose. Moreover, bv changing the relative positions of the rock bar and the depressible actuating .head, the

mechanism can be caused to operate'only when a person is leaving the car. The lip-.-

per tread easily can be locked against movement in any desired manner so as to prevent the mechanism fr'omactuatin the register.

is especially \Vhile the mechanism head designed for use upon street carsandthe like, it is to be understood that it can be-utilized at the entrances to theaters, amusement parks, and other places, where it is desired to keep a record of the number of persons entering.

Various changes can of course be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without d-e arting from the spirit or sacrificing the a vantages of the invention.

' \Vhat is claimed i s:-

1. The combination with a register, and power transmitting mechanism connected thereto, of a rock bar, projections upstanding therefrom, yieldingly supported steps adjacen thereto, means extending from one of the steps for moving against one of-the projections to shift the rock bar and bring the other projection into a redetermined position, and. means extending from the other step and movable therewith for actuating the positioned projection to shift the" rock bar and actuate the power transmitting mechanism,

2. The combination with a register, and means for transmitting motion thereto, of a rock bar having projections extending jacent the bar, a stem pro ecting from one of the stops and movable against one of these i therefrom, yieldingly supported steps adprojections to shift the bar and bring the other projection to a predetermined position, and a stem upon the other step and movable against the positioned projection to shift the rock bar and the motion transmitting mechanism. I

3. In combination with a register, and mechanism for transmitting motion thereto, said mechanism including means for producing lost motion, of a rock bar, upstanding projections thereon, steps adjacent the bar, said steps being yieldingly supported, a deflecting head secured to and movable with. one of the..steps and against one of the projections to shift the bar and take up the lost motion in the motion transmitting mechanism, and a shifting head connected to the other step and. movable against the other projection subsequent to the shifting of the rock bar to actuate the rock bar and mechanism and the register. 4

t. The combination with a register, and

mechanism for transmitting motion thereto, said mechanism including means for producing lost motion, and a rock bar connected to said'mechanism, upstanding projections on' the rock bar, yieldingly supported steps, a deflecting head connected to one of the said steps and ,movable against one of the projections to shift. the bar and bring the other projection into a predetermined position, and a deflecting head connected. tot-he other strip and movable against the positioned projection to shift'the rock baroand actuate the motion transmitting mechanism and the register;

5. The combination with register-operating mechanism, said mechanism including a rocking member, and means for permitting lostmotion, of a depressible yieldably sup ported step for shifting the rocking member and taking up the lost motion in the operating mechanism, and a second shiftable yieldingly' supported step for actuating the rocking member and the balance of said meche '6. The combination with a register and a reciprocating device for intermittently actuating the register, of a rock-shaft, means for transmitting motion therefrom to said reciprocating member, an arm mounted for partial rotation upon the rock-shaft, rocking elements having spaced projections thereon, means for transmitting motion from said-member-to the arm, depressible car steps, means operated by one of the steps for engaging a, projection on' the rocking element to shift said element and move the arm upon the'rock shaft, said shifted element being brought into operative position, and a second depressible step for actuating said element whlle in operative position.

Mechanism of the class described in- FRED. LANGHARST.

Witnesses:

O. M. BAKER, W. M. MCLAUGHLIN. 

